ifm electronic Asia relocates to a larger facility in Singapore to further speed up helping companies in the region achieve robust automation and digitisation through state-of-the-art equipment.
ifm electronic Asia Pte Ltd was founded as a subsidiary in Singapore in 2010 with only ten employees. This number quickly grew to 100 employees working in two daily shifts to accommodate their strength and the growing business in 2018. There was an obvious need for a bigger facility to cater to the advancing business and customer needs.
ifm has acquired grounds of 11,000 m² for the new facility (currently at 5,000 m² built-up gross floor area) which is more than double the previous facility and has a dedicated space for research and development and customer care. This means that ifm will be able to develop and produce more products on-site in Singapore and showcase its world-class automation concepts from across the globe to more customers in the country.
Sufficient Space for Growth & Innovation
At this new facility, ifm will also be introducing customer training in an integrated Training Centre for improved understanding of new automation concepts and better user experiences for their technical staff, thereby enhancing automation deployment and digitalisation. Neighbouring countries will also be able use these facilities for training.
The new facility will also have an Information Technology (IT) Hub APAC that will be supporting ifm’s growth and further activities for Asia Pacific and also in supporting customers with their digitalisation and automation projects.
"We would like to thank all those involved who made a successful and smooth relocation possible", says Björn Ostertag, Dipl.-Ing. (FH), Managing Director, ifm Electronic Asia. “With this expansion we aim to work closer with our customers and partners in the region to further help them through their digitalisation for the future.”
“ifm has been a major contributor to Singapore’s precision engineering sector. With the new facility, which is the company’s biggest investment in Asia to date, more than 75 jobs will be created over 5 years in areas such as R&D and production. We thank ifm for this vote of confidence in Singapore, and we look forward to strengthening our partnership in the years to come,” says Manohar Khiatani, Special Advisor to Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board.
More Space for Exploring Newer Concepts
More space also means more room to test and develop new ideas for production to save time and increase overall efficiency and productivity. New concepts in the material flow like Automatic Guided Vehicle integration and digital production order, operator training lines, dedicated material preparation and sub assembly areas have been introduced.
The supply chain area also got a much-needed uplift with independent warehousing and optimised storage area for future integration of automation technology. Incoming quality inspection has been integrated with the warehouse and shipping area to minimise the processing time and increase process efficiency.
ifm brings innovation to the world of automation, with over 1,140 patents in use and another 100 in the application stage. The new facility’s dedicated space for Research and Development (R&D) for both the office and the lab area and integrated Training Centre will allow customer services and sales teams to better serve the customers and develop innovative solutions for customer and industry challenges. The new location also offers bigger and better areas for employees to get refreshed and operate in an open environment where creativity can take the front seat allow for even more innovation.
For more information, visit www.ifm.com/sg
